How to stop watching YouTube Shorts

Why Shorts are harder to quit than videos

A long video has an end. You notice it, and you decide what’s next, even if the decision is autoplay. The Shorts feed has no end and no decision point: each swipe takes a second, each Short lasts three minutes at most, and the next one is already loaded. YouTube’s own reminder tools all work the same way: they insert a moment where you have to decide.

That suggests the fix. Don’t try to stop in the middle of the feed. Make it so the feed isn’t the first thing you see.

On your phone: zero, not fifteen minutes

In the YouTube app, tap You, then Settings, Time management, Shorts feed limit, and choose zero. According to Tubefilter, the Shorts shelf then disappears from Home, and the first Short you open in a session shows the “time’s up” prompt.

Why zero rather than a small allowance: a 15-minute limit turns into a countdown you negotiate with, and the reminder arrives when you’re deepest in the feed. Zero puts the reminder at the door, before the first swipe. You can still dismiss it; the point is that you have to choose to.

On a computer: switch them off

A browser can do what the app can’t. With FeedCut, one switch removes the Shorts shelf from Home, the Shorts tab, Shorts in search and Subscriptions, and the Shorts tab on channel pages. There’s no reminder to dismiss, because there’s nothing there. A PIN on the settings helps if you know you’ll be tempted to switch it back at 1 am.

Close the side doors

• Links from friends. A Short in a group chat opens the swipe feed. On a computer, FeedCut opens /shorts/ links as normal videos; without an extension, our Shorts link converter does the same for one link at a time.
• Show fewer Shorts. On Home in the app, tap More above a grid of Shorts and choose Show fewer Shorts. It’s feedback rather than a setting, but it backs up the limit.
• The habit slots. Scrolling tends to happen in the same few moments of the day: in bed, in a queue, on the couch after work. Put something else in the first slot of the phone’s home screen, and keep YouTube off it.
• Other apps. If Shorts go and the same feed shows up as Reels or TikTok, the habit moved rather than stopped. Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing can put a daily limit on those apps.

What the first week looks like

Expect to reach for the feed out of habit, find the reminder or an empty Home, and close the app. That moment is the change working. If you find yourself dismissing the reminder every time, the phone limit isn’t enough on its own: move YouTube off the home screen, or limit the whole app for a few weeks, and keep the computer as the place where you watch long videos on purpose.

Questions

Updated November 6, 2026